In just over a month since it opened more than 8,000 people have visited the HorseThief Reservoir in western Kansas.

And residents who live around the reservoir say they've already seen an increase in business. People going to the reservoir west of Jetmore in Hodgeman County are buying gas, food, water recreation supplies and even worms.

Lea Ann Seiler, director of Hodgeman County Economic Development, told The Hutchinson News that the reservoir has already been good for Hodgeman.

The 450-acre reservoir is the only big body of water available for water recreation in southwest Kansas, where many small lakes are dry and the Arkansas River hasn't flowed in years.

HorseThief was funded by a sales tax approved by voters in 2005 in Ford, Finney, Hodgeman and Gray counties.